I really intended to be more consistent in my postings, but I really can't remember my last real day off, and my schedule has been sprinkled with doubles and holiday shifts, so I've been falling behind on my new blog's resolution. My laptop will be coming soon, so that should afford me the opportunity to post more regularly, since a lot of the time all I have to do at work is watch TV for hours at a time. There is a possibility that my Dell Vostro 1000 will be delayed until the week of Christmas, but they said that to a friend of mine and she got her Inspiron like a week later. We'll see.
I'm going to give you a short run-down on the process that got me to begin my college career this coming December 10th, simply because my memory isn't all that great and there's been a lot of stuff going on the last couple of weeks, not to mention I'm kind of learning on the fly with all this Google and Blogger stuff. (Anyone has some criticisms or suggestions I'm more than willing to listen and try things out.)
Okay. So I decide that I may want to further my education. I go to the University of Phoenix website because I know people that have done this and have heard much about the university, and not much that is bad. I look around their site and see that they have a variety of degrees available, including those in Psychology that range from an Associate degree up to a Master's degree. I've chosen Psychology because it seems to come naturally to me, since my days of being the resident shrink at the local Perkins restaurant back in the day, and as reflected in my iGoogle home page content- it's something I'm interested in. I decide it's a good idea to start out working on an Associate degree, which I realize isn't worth much in today's Psychology field, but also know that it's not going to cost me as much if I decide not to continue for some reason. I also have a pretty good notion that my loans can be deferred if I decide to re-enroll, and that notion is later confirmed by my enrollment adviser.
So I fill out the information request form that is accessed through the little blue box on the left side of the University's main page, and the next day I listen to the message on my answering machine from my future enrollment adviser. I'm pretty skeptical about these things, so I take a day to really think about this, and come to the conclusion that I'm really not doing anything with my life at the moment, so it might be an interesting thing to try out. I give him a call.
Now, my enrollment adviser is a little cautious about posting his name all over my blog, but can only say that he has been there whenever I needed him. Whenever I have a question he gets back to me quickly and has the information I need to get past whenever roadblock I'm facing. Plus, he's pretty cool. While we were waiting on some stuff to come through the one day, we just started bullshitting about similar interests, and found out that he's into a lot of the same stuff that I am. Since then, we've corresponded through e-mail on various things like software and websites, and music. Turns out he's a DJ and he's starting his own online clothing store. If you e-mail me or leave a comment with your e-mail address I'll give you his contact information. I definitely recommend him!
My first phone conversation with the enrollment adviser went well. Of course, he gave me the whole schpeel that he has to, but I never felt any pressure to go through with this. He was open to my perception of the whole school thing. I have had a good amount of success in life without a degree, and have had a couple of bad educational experiences in the past. I realized that this was more of a personal goal than anything else, and my adviser let me take the lead on the direction I wanted to go with my education.
After choosing which course I wanted to take, I had to fill out a form on the University of Phoenix website that determined if I was a good candidate for schooling online, and if I would qualify for the government subsidies that would help me pay for my education.
The same rules apply to the University of Phoenix as they do if you actually physically attended a campus based University. All the government loans and grants are there if you qualify, and the University of Phoenix also lists a bunch of scholarships that one might be interested in pursuing.
I've heard a lot about the University of Phoenix being very expensive, and based on prior experiences can only say that this is untrue. Sure, there are cheaper ways to earn a degree, but you have to realize that you are paying for convenience here, which is important in my life. And to be honest, you could end up spending a lot more going to a campus based University, and that's before considering the cost of housing and materials.
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So I've filled out all the government forms to request financial aid. I did it online, and the whole time I was doing this, my enrollment adviser is on the phone guiding me through it and answering my questions. So much easier than struggling through all the paperwork that I have done in the past. I find out a few days later that the government will give me all the necessary loan money that I need and I won't have to worry about paying anything back until six months after I graduate. Plus, like I said, if I re-enroll after I get my Associate degree then I don't have to worry about paying them back until after I get my Bachelor's...and I can do the same thing with my Master's.
Out of pocket cost- $50 on the first day of classes, $50 when I receive my degree. That's it! Sure, I have to pay back my loans, but now I have a degree to help me do that...
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